Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 60: Bloodbath with Daemons

The squad began their retreat along the pump station's access path. Along the way, Soshyan continuously spotted items scattered across the deck.

Discarded autoweapons, torches, ruined vox-gear, detonators, and cables all lay in heaps like garbage.

Although the areas they had passed through previously were old, they had mostly been relatively orderly. This place, however, was as cluttered as the lair of some wild beast—

Suddenly, Soshyan realized the air was tainted with a nauseating stench, like the coppery reek of blood and flesh in a slaughterhouse mixed with the sickly-sweet odor of rotting fruit.

Saul also caught the scent.

He tried to shout a warning, but it was too late.

A prefabricated metal bulkhead of a compartment suddenly burst outward as a powerful entity tore through it and lunged. The squad only caught a glimpse of scales, thick smoke, and a maw brimming with razor-sharp fangs.

With a single breath, the creature spewed a stream of liquid directly into the face of the warrior closest to it.

"Damn it!"

The Space Marine's helmet instantly began to hiss and emit smoke, as if it had been doused in powerful acid.The bizarre creature then pounced onto the wounded warrior. Slender, whip-like appendages coiled around him, and its razor-sharp claws ripped open the front plating of his Power Armor as easily as tearing tinfoil.

The tips of the creature's limbs firmly enveloped the Space Marine's torso, producing a horrifying, wet sound as dozens of fleshy tendrils extended from its semi-corporeal shell, piercing the Power Armor and burrowing deep into the flesh beneath.

"Slay the unclean!"

Saul's sword lashed out like a streak of light, aimed straight at the monster's head.

Sensing the threat, the monster leapt backward, hurling the pinned Space Marine away, and vanished into the darkness with astonishing speed.

Bolter rounds chased the monster's trajectory, blowing several storage lockers to pieces along the way, but unfortunately, none found their mark.

Soshyan watched the beast disappear from sight. Its method of locomotion was highly unnatural; its ankles and knees bent at peculiar angles.

But then again, nothing in this place could be understood through common sense.

Swallowing an angry roar, Soshyan rushed to the side of his fallen brother.

The warrior's helmet was unrecognizable—a smoking ruin reeking of scorched metal and roasted skin. The pungent odor penetrated even the auto-senses and filtration systems of Soshyan's own helmet.

The warrior was thrashing in agony. Soshyan struggled to tear the helmet off, but the ceramite had been severely corroded and fused with the flesh beneath.

"Brother, hold on!"

Left with no other choice, Soshyan forcefully ripped the helmet from the warrior's head.

With a muffled grunt, the helmet finally broke free from its seal with the Power Armor.

By this point, there was barely an intact patch of skin left on the warrior's face. Blood oozed from the ruins of his helm like melting rubber, flowing freely.

"I've got him."

At that moment, the Techmarine stepped into the impromptu role of an Apothecary. A syringe extended from one of his mechadendrites and sank into the wounded warrior's neck, rapidly injecting medical stimms into his system.

Nearby, Armin took two steps back, staring in furious shock at the ravaged visage of his squad mate.

Soshyan turned his gaze toward him.

"He will be fine. We will not abandon any brother."

Techmarine Logris helped the fallen warrior up from the deck, unable to help but sigh.

"Emperor above, I have never seen such..."

Saul shook his head and picked up the warrior's dropped bolter from the deck.

"You must all be newly forged blood. In this galaxy, everything changes rapidly; you must adapt quickly."

He then looked at Logris, hefting the bolter in his hands.

"May I?"

The Techmarine looked to Soshyan, and upon receiving a slight nod, he promptly disengaged the weapon's gene-lock.

"This is my fault."

Armin said shamefully.

"I should have—"

"Continue our fighting advance toward the landing platform."

Soshyan cut off the Squad Leader's self-reproach, issuing orders calmly.

Subsequently, as they advanced, the bizarre creatures launched two more attacks, each time lunging from the shadows with speed and ferocity that far exceeded common logic.

The warriors did not let them succeed, though the price they paid was sacrificing portions of their own armor, as the potent acid spat by the monsters melted away sections of their Power Armor's plating.

The Astartes navigated their way through the labyrinthine complex, methodically advancing in an alternating formation: one pushing forward, another providing cover.

As they drew closer to their objective, the attacks grew increasingly frequent.

When they finally exited the pump station and arrived at the entrance to the flight deck, Soshyan saw a massive horde of creatures gathered together. A sea of writhing, scaled bodies completely blocked off the passageway to the landing platform.

Seeing those clearly unnatural entities, a wave of revulsion rose within Soshyan.

Their internal anatomy was vastly removed from anything human imagination could conjure. Their limbs possessed numerous, unfixed joints, moving and rotating as if composed of disjointed segments.

More importantly, some of them were translucent, while others flickered in and out of sight, making their bodies occasionally appear to be in a state of phantom unreality.

"What in the Emperor's name are they?"

Armin couldn't help but ask.

"Filthy xenos. I once heard the Word Bearers call them by another name."

Saul answered his question.

"Daemons."

Soshyan led the warriors in a charge straight for the blast doors, his drawn longsword in hand, a tempestuous battle-lust flashing in his eyes.

Shortly after the Astartes appeared, the daemons let out strange hissing sounds. Whether it was from fear or anticipation, no one could say.

Thick smoke billowed, and scales churned as the daemons surged forward, brandishing their razor-sharp claws. The Astral Knights met them head-on without a shred of fear.

Bolters punched through kaleidoscopic scales, embedding into the semi-corporeal bodies before detonating.

A portion of the wounded beasts crashed to the deck, dissolving into pools of glassy, transparent sludge, while the rest continued their charge, completely unfazed.

Blades and claws clashed violently in an instant burst of combat.

Soshyan faced off against a shrieking entity with an elongated skull. Rippling, ever-shifting colors danced within its eyes, casting an unnervingly eerie reflection upon its slitted pupils.

The speed with which it swung its "arms" was extraordinarily fast; its first strike nearly took Soshyan's head clean off.

Evading the initial attack, Soshyan fired his bolter into the monster's abdomen as he stepped back. The staccato detonations consistently added more grievous wounds to the hulking beast.

The pain spurred the daemon on; it attacked even more fiercely with its claws, simultaneously spewing a gob of acidic slime.

Soshyan deflected the corrosive slime, then lowered his bolter and thrust the Holy Flame Sword forward.

The relentless daemon charged again. This time, Soshyan merely delivered a sweeping horizontal slash, severing the razor-sharp claws. He then stepped forward, using the momentum for a rising diagonal strike that cleft into its chest from below.

The razor-sharp blade parted the daemon's body in two as effortlessly as parting clouds.